March 21, 2005

Springtime

I am almost loathe to mention it, in case Gaia hears me and whumps me with another massive snowstorm for daring to be hopeful...but I think it's spring. If you can overlook the fact that it was snowing this morning, there are signs. The one I like best is that the air is warm enough for Sam to make giant bubbles today.

Springbubble

We tried the other day but it was just too cold, the sight of a child outside, wearing only a down vest, sweater and bubbles is downright encouraging. (Since somebody is going to ask, the giant bubble book and frame is this one. Extremely cool, with the bonus of using up at least 13 minutes of the March Break. Only about 11520 more minutes to fill. ) The girls and I were in the village today, (Tulips and pussywillows for sale!) and walking there and back, I contemplated how it was that I didn't feel like the planet was trying to kill me. On the sunny side of the street the snow is melting and I'm betting that someone in Toronto has snowdrops. My mood is spectacular, hopeful and cheery...which is good, since I'm getting my chain pulled by my knitting again.

I've been knitting on my bus socks, and it was only last night when I got out the two at the same time to see if they matched for length and as I held them together, I noticed this.

Mismatch

These socks do not match. There's no reason for this, which I find infuriating. They were knit on the same needles, from the same yarn with the same number of stitches by the same knitter. It isn't just that the variegation is working out differently either, if you see these socks in person you can see that the colours are actually different. The second one (on the left) has more blue, a lighter blue and less red and orange. They look like different dye lots, but were knit from a single skein of Fleece artist hand-dyed sock yarn. It must be that the dye job is subtly different moving through the skein, so subtle that you don't notice while you're knitting (or maybe you would if you were the type to pay more attention) but it shows up side by side. Since my feet are largely side by side, I have a feeling this is going to bug me.
I love this yarn though, and I love each of the socks in their own way...so I'm working to get past my anal retentive compulsive feelings about matching socks and learn to enjoy their fraternal rather than identical nature. Or maybe I just won't take off my shoes much.

I'm also working on this...

Nopepc

a little wee coat/dress/sweater for a baby I know. In a move that's quite rare for me, I decided to use a pattern right the way it was printed so that I could save time. Sadly, while I'm succeeding in knitting to gauge, I'm hating the fabric. Too stiff and closed and I dorked up the intarsia motifs. I have a feeling that this is on it's way out.

I am comforting myself with this, which has likely ruined me.

Silkartf

This is my new favourite yarn. I am completely on a yarn high. It's Artfibers "Golden Chai" (colour #10) 100% tussah silk. When I got it in the mail today from Tonia, who clearly has impeccable taste, I dumped every other project I had on the go like it was common crap and cast on something slick. I am simply twitterpated with this yarn. It's soft, the colours are beautiful and the thick-thin action enchants me. This yarn is so beautiful that it has ruined me. Ruined any chance that I was going to do laundry today, ruined any chance that I will clean house, ruined the odds for anything other than the simplest of dinners. I can only be grateful that it arrived after I'd taken the girls for a walk and bought food, or I wouldn't be doing that either. The rest of my day will be dedicated to knitting with this little slice of heaven and watching everyone run out of clean underpants while I do nothing to prevent it. I will distract you from these lower impulses of mine and point you to Jan...who finished her version of my Snowdrop shawl pattern out of her "first handspun yarn".
If this is her first handspun...I'm just going to nip off and drown myself.

Posted by Stephanie at March 21, 2005 2:17 PM